In essence, all of Irving Penn's work takes the same approach, isolating subjects from their context and raising them to one kind of graphic perfection or another. This stems, he said, from a need to "make things manageable enough to record them, to prune away anything inconsequential." Pause. "Because less is more".
1939 | Irving Penn Shoe Sign: Shoe (Version A), New York Source: Smithsonian American Art Museum |
1947 | Irving Penn Theater Accident, New York Source: The Art Institute Of Chicago |
1959 | Irving Penn Four Shoes, New York Source: Mutual Art |
1963 | Irving Penn Spanish Shoes, New York Source: The Art Institute Of Chicago |
1980 | Irving Penn Still Life With Shoe Source: The Art Institute Of Chicago |